Tag Archives: James Ellison

Harrisburg, PA – Gloria Martin-Roberts appeared for a live interview Monday night on “Real Rap with Ron Chapel”, a local Harrisburg Facebook radio show. The topic of discussion was the Election Day #Rafflegate controversy in Harrisburg, PA.

The highlights of the scandal featured a voter raffle that offered cash and iPhone prizes. Campaign workers were posted at polling locations in the city on Election Day offering raffle tickets to potential voters. The initial claim by incumbent Mayor Eric Papenfuse suggested this raffle operated in cahoots with the write-in Mayoral campaign of Martin-Roberts, and was essentially bribing people to vote for her. This claim resulted in the ruling of a court injunction and subsequently the Dauphin County Sheriffs shutting down the campaign activity at the polls.

In the interview, Martin-Roberts disputed the claim that her campaign was involved and exposed Eric Papenfuse and Alex Hartzler for committing voter suppression at the polls on Election Day. She distanced her campaign from the raffle and adamantly cleared the name of herself and campaign treasurer James Ellison.

Martin-Roberts detailed the timeline of events that preceded Alex Hartzler summoning hired men from the Cork & Fork staff to intimidate campaign workers and voters at the polls. It was also mentioned that prior to the election, Harrisburg School Board Director candidate Carrie Fowler was circulating unauthorized distasteful material that falsely represented the Gloria Martin-Roberts Mayoral Campaign.

This account of the situation sheds light on the questionable reporting of Pennlive and theBurg throughout this controversy, and their apparent conflict of interest with the Harrisburg Mayor. It also has brought new attention to the severity of the democratic in-fighting in Harrisburg.

By participating in the hiring of a member of his law firm through the HA & again violated Section 1103(a) when he signed checks for Bruber-individual he got hired by Torres the then E.D..Ellison is equity partner at firm so directing any business to is in violation, as if the aforementioned signing of checks to said individual.- Paid $2,297 settlement-8th link

Was forced to resign from chairman of HA as a result of the violations-9th link

While on the board of school control(appointed by Reed) approved more than 100$ million relating to bonds.-9th link

Many controversial bond deals(including bonds related to the incinerator) were made while he was the City Solicitor-9th link

Tax liens- while Ellison and Rhods/Sinon represented CASD, the district ‘sold millions of dollars in delinquent property tax claims to third parties’ A poor business venture- they lost money. HA made $30,000 in fees from 2005-2007 from the sale of said items- 2nd link

While working at Rhoads & Sinon the firm represented CDSD. Ellison served as Insurance defense counsel and solicitor for CDSD. The firm billed CDSD 189,527$ for 1,064.52 hours of which- ‘The records also show that attorney James Ellison billed the district for an hour for an interview he gave to Patriot-News reporter Mary Klaus. The firm also billed the school district for an e-mail it sent regarding a Right-to-Know request the bus drivers sent to the school district.The firm also billed the school district for research it did on defamation after Epstein wrote an article on a blog. It also billed the district for reviewing a draft denial of a Right-to-Know request’- 12th link

As a result of the combination of Linda Thompson making good on a campaign promise and Ellison giving bad legal advice; Rhoads and Sinon was ordered to pay $250,000 of a $2.4mil settlement with Gerald Kohn. Harrisburg SD paid $125,000. The rest was paid by insurers. Linda Thompson didn’t pay a cent- 4th link/ 6th link/ 7th link

James Ellison activity on Board of Control

Ellison Rhoads and Sinon largest donor to campaign during Linda Thompson election

2010-1 year left of mayoral control of Harrisburg School Board, Linda Thompson appoints Gloria Martin Roberts to Board of Control

Previous solicitors billed 1.2mill over 5 years/ Ellison proceeded to bill over 500k in less than a years time- he got into documented legal trouble for similar behavior with Central Dauphin SD and Coatesville SD. His actions with HbgSD were never scrutinized.

Ellison acting as Solicitor, Kohn, ended up costing millions

For services rendered to Board of Control-checks rarely itemized. We have examples of the checks. The checks were signed by GMR and invoiced by JE

“Marilyn Levin, former county chair of the Democratic Party; Evelyn Zigerelli-Henderson, who ran for county clerk in 2011; the Rev. A.J. Briley Sr., of Christian Love Ministries; Phyllis Bennett, a Swatara Township Democrat who twice ran unsuccessfully for the 106th House seat.”

But one name stands out as having a different type of influence in Harrisburg.

Mr. James Ellison.

Culture of Corruption

Unfortunately, being endorsed by James Ellison in any nearly any other Pennsylvanian municipality would be compared with political suicide. However, he is conveniently operating in Harrisburg, where the conventional rules don’t apply. Ellison has been tied to a problematic school district in Chester County as part of a ‘Culture of Corruption,’ due to his fruadulent legal-fee billing practices.

This was part of an investigation into the Coatesville Area School District, where Mr. Ellison was ‘voluntarily‘ relieved from his high-paid position after 17 years with Rhoads & Sinon, the law firm in Downtown Harrisburg.

Ellison, along with his former employer settled a lawsuit for $420,000 in November 2016 for grossly overcharging the broken inner city school district in Pennsylvania.

In support of Gloria Martin-Roberts, Mr. Ellison is now blasting a smear campaign against the good intentions of Jennie Jenkins’ bid for Harrisburg Mayor. Directly on his public fb profile you will find the narrative that he posted to discredit Jenkins. As a result of this attack, Jenkins broad base of supporters has been riled up and her latest reported poll numbers are soaring.

On the behalf of Harrisburg100, and speaking up for the concerns of the local community, I did intend to probe into this apparent smear campaign of Jenkins, and aggressive endorsement of Martin-Roberts. My attempts at private messenging with Mr Ellison went unanswered and when I pressed Mr. Ellison on his intentions, via his original fb posting, my comment was deleted from his post and he eventually blocked me from his page. He could not answer the simple questions that were asked about his interests with Martin-Roberts as they related to Jenkins.

It has been reported by Jenkins that there are some bully tactics and even blunt stalking is taking place while canvasing the neighborhoods. Indications are that these type of maneuvers are being initiated by motives within the Martin-Roberts camp. While, it is not believed that Martin-Roberts herself is involved with these aggressive tactics, it has been rumored that she may have lost control of her team, as confidential sources report that the campaign leaders are in panic mode while her poll numbers reportedly dive lower, soon approaching the upcoming primary election on May 16.

Linda Thompson Part II

It’s not been a pretty sight in Harrisburg after digging out of messes, floods, blizzards, sink holes and financial debt. The brunt of the more recent post-Reed trouble seems to fall on Thompson’s shoulders, and it is openly visible that Thompson and Martin-Roberts are thick as thieves. Sentiments in the community are that the environment in Harrisburg after electing Martin-Roberts would take a similar tone to what we had under the Thompson administration.

It’s been suggested that Harrisburg was a failed experiment under Thompson, and local leaders allegedly attribute some of those failures to Ellison. Not only was that administration a total disaster for the city, but many believe some of those failures where intentionally created for various reasons. Perhaps for the financial gain of some lawyer friends, some problems were due to incompetence, and other issues related to doing favors for close friends.

The growing consensus is that Martin-Roberts represent an extension of the Linda Thompson administration. It is commonly believed that Thompson will secure a top post in Martin-Roberts Mayoral cabinet.

Queen Maker

Mr. James Ellison is considered “a powerful political force in Harrisburg politics. [He] played a major role in the successful political campaigns of Gloria Martin-Roberts, Susan Brown-Wilson and Kelly Summerford for the City Council and Tiffany Penn and Patricia Whitehead-Myers for Harrisburg’s school board.”

In 2009, “Mr. Ellison ran Linda Thompson’s successful bid for Mayor of Harrisburg and served as the campaign’s treasurer. Rhoads & Sinon contributed $25,000 to the Thompson campaign.”

According to her flyer for an initial fundraiser, James Ellison, Esquire is listed as a member of Martin-Roberts host team. Word on the street is that he is at the forefront of the effort to have Gloria Martin-Roberts elected as the 2nd Female Mayor in Harrisburg. Of course, it was the infamous Linda Thompson who was our first, and she was put on by Ellison. He hopes to recreate the magic of 2009 this year with the next candidate in line. Perhaps as a last ditch effort with the original Queen of City Council, he intends bill the city for new legal fees, and to assert influence through the proxy of Martin-Roberts.

Unfortunately for Gloria Martin-Roberts, this association with James Ellison has directly hurt her campaign’s credibility, because Ellison is perceived in the community as somebody with a most questionable past, who is ineligible to be associated with influencing public finances, due to his past history of dishonest practices. He is tied to high priced lawsuit settlements for highly questionable practices, namely a $420,000 settlement by Rhodes & Sinon just a few months ago in November 2016.

This is why Martin-Roberts is not gaining any support outside our her traditional base of very close buddy-buddy friends of the old guard city politics.